


Four People Who Didn't Appreciate Peek-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny, And Two Who Did

by Shadow_of_Quill



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 20:36:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8911102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_of_Quill/pseuds/Shadow_of_Quill
Summary: Some of Papyrus' attempts to share his favourite book with his friends.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ysavvryl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/gifts).



> Not quite a five + one fic, but the same style. This may be a bit less fluffcrack than you were expecting; I hope you like it!

Four Who Didn't...

** Flowey **

"AND HERE, FLUFFY BUNNY -"

"Are you stupid?"

Papyrus faltered, looking at his friend. Flowey sneered back, flicking the book closed with one vine. "No, seriously, are you _actually retarded_ in some way? Because _this_ is a stupid book for stupid little kids, and you're telling me it's your _favourite?_ Either you're lying and you think _I'm_ too much of a stupid little kid to notice, or _you're_ really still a stupid little kid for really liking this stuff!"

"FLOWEY, THIS BOOK IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME," Papyrus tried to explain.

" _Sure_ it is," Flowey snarled. "Guess this'll really upset you, then, huh?" More vines flew out of the ground, and before Papyrus could think of a way to stop them Flowey had torn Peek-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny to shreds.

 

Papyrus was devastated by the loss of his favourite book. Flowey never apologised, but in a few days, Papyrus woke up to find it was a week before his ill-advised attempt to share his joy in it, and the book was back to it's former not-quite-pristine condition.

Papyrus never tried to introduce Flowey to his favourite book again. Flowey asked if he had one, sometimes, looking a little ashamed of himself, but Papyrus always lied.

The last thing he wanted to do was make his friend uncomfortable by forcing him to _pretend_ to like something just because Papyrus did.

** Undyne **

"AND THEN, FLUFFY BUNNY -" Papyrus faltered as he saw the look on Undyne's face, the gritted-teeth 'forcing myself to be patient' expression she was wearing. "OH! I'M SORRY, IS THIS BORING YOU?"

For a moment, he could see guilt ripple over her face before she grinned fiercely. "'COURSE NOT, PAPS!" she bellowed. "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?"

 

It wasn't hard for him to notice the way she started babying him in their spars after that.

_You're still a stupid little kid if you like this stuff,_ Flowey's voice echoed in his skull. He didn't think the flower was _right_ , but - it seemed like maybe Undyne would agree with him?

Next time, he didn't introduce Undyne to his favourite book. Undyne still gave him 'special training' instead of letting him join the Guard, but he felt like she was taking him more seriously than she had.

It wasn't that much of a sacrifice not to go shoving this in her face, he told himself as his fingers brushed over the worn cover. She just - needed a chance to get to know him, first. He'd been rushing things by telling her about his favourite book too soon.

He'd tell her after he got into the Royal Guard, he decided with a pleased nod. She'd know how competent he was by then, he'd have proved himself!

If he could just make it into the Royal Guard, Undyne would know that he wasn't a babybones, and he could share this with her!

(And if he started calling the anime she was so enthusiastic about "CARTOONS FOR BABIES", well, that had nothing to do with anything.)

** Alphys **

|AND WHAT'S UNDER THE NEXT PANEL?| CoolSkeleton95 typed. |COULD IT BE|

|You do know I can't see them, right?|

Papyrus blinked at Alphys' message, and ducked his head. |I AM SO SORRY! HERE!| He lifted the book up, holding it so the page was properly displayed before the monitor.

 

Alphys waited to see if her new online friend was sending a picture.

And waited.

|... There isn't an image-function in the chat, you know.|

 

Papyrus blinked at the message. |OH.| That felt a little barren, so he added, |THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME! :D|

She must mean that what she could see through the screen was too blurred or pixelated to make out - Papyrus had those problems when it came to viewing places through Undernet connections. Phones were so much clearer, but he didn't know her number, and it was far too invasive to ask for it just so he could give her a better view of the book he was trying to share with her!

He didn't let himself think that maybe she couldn't see through the screen the way he could at all. It would be far too lonely to be the only person in the Underground with this power.

|MAYBE YOU CAN FIND A COPY OF THE BOOK FOR YOURSELF, AND WE CAN READ TOGETHER SOMETIME!|

 

Alphys smiled at the words. |I think I'd like that| she typed, then erased the 'I think' before sending the message.

It was silly, but... it was a way to feel connected with someone. She needed that.

She thought maybe CoolSkeleton95 might, too.

 

They never did get around to that shared reading. Papyrus told himself that Alphys must be far too busy to remember a silly little agreement like that.

(He never did find out that she told herself the same thing about him. It was such a silly little thing to miss.)

** Doggo **

"AND UNDER _THIS_ FLAP - DOGGO, ARE YOU LOOKING?" Papyrus interrupted his impassioned reading.

Doggo huffed a laugh as he lit up another treat. "You do realise I can't see the book, kid?"

"OH!" Papyrus shimmied in place so Doggo would see his contrite expression. "I DO APOLOGISE! I WILL RECTIFY THIS OVERSIGHT IMMEDIATELY!" He picked the book up and started shaking it in front of Doggo, making sure it was open to the right page.

Doggo just shook his head fondly. "Nice try, pup, but that's just showing me the _book_. The letters and pictures still don't move."

Papyrus drooped.

"Hey, still happy for you to read to me," Doggo said, trying to make him feel better.

"YES, BEING READ TO IS INDEED A WONDERFUL THING, BUT IT ISN'T QUITE THE SAME WONDERFUL THING AS SEEING THE ILLUSTRATIONS FOR YOURSELF," Papyrus said, then started flailing as he added, "NOT THAT I MEAN TO IMPLY I AM IN ANY WAY UNWILLING TO DO SO!"

"It's fine, pup," Doggo assured him, settling in place and taking a long drag on his treat. "You were just up to the part where he's looking for who's under the haystack..."

 

...And Two Who Did

**Frisk**

The human looked a little unhappy when Papyrus carefully tucked them into the bed in the Capture Zone. "IS SOMETHING THE MATTER, SMALL HUMAN?"

They shook their head, but Papyrus' keen senses could detect a certain hesitance. "WOULD YOU, PERHAPS, CARE FOR A MARVELLOUS STORY TO BE TOLD TO SEND YOU TO SLEEP?"

The human blinked at him, as if not able to believe what they'd just heard, then nodded so hard Papyrus was a little concerned their enthusiasm might make their head fly off. "WELL! FORTUNATELY FOR YOU, THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAPPENS TO HAVE THE PERFECT BOOK ON HAND FOR SUCH AN OCCASION!"

He felt a little shy bringing out Peek-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny - what if the human agreed with Undyne that it was childish? What if they felt insulted by it, like Flowey had? - but the human snuggled down happily the moment they saw it, and smiled the whole time Papyrus read it to them.

 

Frisk couldn't remember the last time someone read to them. They didn't care if the book was meant to be for babies, not when Papyrus was so obviously enjoying reading it to them, _for_ them. This wasn't like Toriel's house, with the shadows of all those other children hanging over Frisk, taunting them with 'Were the others better? Were they braver, were they kinder, were they more patient, were they more just?' This was just Frisk and the skeleton who wanted to be their friend, sharing a book.

It was the best night Frisk had had in years.

**Monster Kid**

MK beamed up at Papyrus as he carefully adjusted their scarf for them. Frisk offered a thumb's up behind him, confirming that MK really did look as cool as their idol.

"THERE!" Papyrus struck a good-guy pose. Mk imitated him as best they could.

"Yeah! Yeah! Do I look as awesome as you, Papyrus?"

"YOU LOOK EXACTLY THAT AWESOME!" Papyrus agreed.

"GREAT! ...So, uh, what are we gonna do now?" Normally, the three of them would be haring through town, or doing some really cool stunts with Undyne, or something exciting like that - but Frisk was getting over a mild case of the flu, and Toriel had sternly forbidden anything that might strain them while they recovered.

"I AM VERY GLAD YOU ASKED! AS YOUR MENTOR IN COOLNESS, I HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO INTRODUCE YOU TO COOL MEDIA WHICH YOU MAY HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN OVERLOOKING!" Papyrus produced a worn book with a flourish as he dropped to the floor.

"Peek-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny," MK read carefully. Frisk nodded, tucking themself under one of Papyrus' arms and waving for MK to fit themself under his other one.

MK settled against Papyrus' side with a happy sigh. "See, this is why you're so cool. You don't let other people stop you from liking stuff even if they think it's something you shoulda 'grown out of' or something."

Papyrus blushed happily. "AHEM!" he declared, flipping the book open. "FLUFFY BUNNY IS PLAYING WITH HIS FRIENDS..."

It was Papyrus' favourite book. 

It was, he found, even better when he was sharing it with his friends.


End file.
